Books against Racism

The facist demonstration in Charlottesville leave me restless. I am still disgusted and shocked by all those pictures. I am also full of rage and an urge to do something. Here is me doing something. I will give you a present. I will give you wisdom.

When I was 8 years old, my mom took me and my brother to visit KZ Dachau, which is a german concentration camp. This affected me deeply, and left me sleepless with dark pictures in my mind. We can surly debate if it was a smart move to take a young child to such a place. But my mom made an opportunity out of it. She gave me books. On christmas that year she gifted me books about the Holocaust. And I read, and read, and learned, and understood.

The same pictures haunted me yesterday, when I again, wasn’t able to fall asleep because of pictures from people comitted to hate. Growing up in a country that committed the biggest crime in history, leaves me with a certain responsibility to tell others about it. So I will follow my moms footsteps and give you books to read. Read and learn, and then stand up for justice.

The Book Thief

This book is about Lisl, who is send to a new family in Munich in the middle of 2nd World War. It’s about love, trust and standing up for each other. You should read this. You should read this and learn that words have power, that a good heart can save people.

We Wept Without Tears

This was a book that was recommended to me after I visited Auschwitz. It’s the only book of it’s kind, and it’s the worst book I ever read. In it you will find interviews from Auschwitz Survivors who worked on the Sonderkommando I. They were in charge of burning the bodies of those jews that got gassed. You will also find an unexpected story. You will find that even in the middle of pure helplessness, a resistance can be born and however horrible the interviews are, you will find a little light and hope.

The Diary of a Young Girl

I must admit that I cannot remember this book very well (this screams for a reread). Anne tried to hide with her family from getting deported. These are her words, and her story. The Holocaust out of the eyes of a young girl. Without hate she tells the story of her family and tries to find normalcy in a world that never gave her a place.

The Hate U Give

Yes, I haven’t yet read this book. But luckily others have. And what will they tell you? This is the voice of a generation of marginalized people that are fed up. It is on my TBR because I want to hear that voice. I want to listen. Is it on yours?

The Handmaid’s Tale

Imagine a world in which Racists would win again. I think it comes close to the story of the Handmaid’s Tale. Artwood took all the horrible things that already happened in this world, and created a very likeable future. I can find Trump there, I can find people unwilling to think, I can find christian fundamentalists, and I find hypocrites. Read this and tell me if you want to live in a world like this.

After I have summed that up, in fact, it really doesn’t matter which book you read. You can choose Harry Potter, The Bone Season, A Court of Wings and Ruin, Red Rising, The Fault in Our Stars or 1984. Books carry messages, they make you think, they give hope and courage. Live and experience the live of others through those books, learn what it’s like to be surpressed, to have your freedom taken away from you and then do shit against it and stand up for others.